The inflation scenario predicts the universe expands faster than the speed of light. Doesn this violate the laws of physics?
There are many different inflation scenarios but in fact the unifying definition of inflation is that it involves an era of superluminal expansion. The laws of causality, i.e. cause and effect, say that no form of energy or matter can travel faster than the speed of light. Nonphysical things, basically mathematical concepts or figments, are not so restricted. What is said to expand in inflation is the particle horizon, which has no physical form or structure but is instead merely a useful concept like the equator on Earth.
Related Questions
- If nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, then how can the universe have expanded by "inflation" to billions of light years across in the first tiny fraction of a second?
- Obvious question: how can they travel faster than light? If they can violate the laws of physics which prohibit this, then why should we assume that any scientific laws apply at all?
- How can the Universe expand faster than the speed of light during inflation?
